A Chicago Ford Motor plant that was part of a $9 million settlement over sexual harassment claims in 2000 is being sued again by four women alleging sexual harassment and sex discrimination.

The women are represented by Keith Hunt, the Chicago attorney who brought the earlier case. "Here we are again," Hunt said Monday. "It is unfortunate that Ford has perpetuated an environment that is demeaning to women."

In a statement, Ford said it is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and takes reports of harassment or discrimination seriously. "Where allegations of misconduct are raised, it is our policy to investigate them thoroughly and take all appropriate steps in response. We cannot discuss the details regarding individual employees' complaints," the company said in the statement.

The women, however, claim they repeatedly called Ford's harassment hotline and also informed the company's labor relations department and their union, but said neither the union nor the company did anything in response.

In a statement, Jimmy Settles, United Auto Workers vice president, said: "UAW-Ford takes charges of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation filed by all of our members very seriously including our members at Ford's Chicago Assembly plant. The economic and social justice extended to our members remains our focus. We have studied the claims filed by our members and others that have followed and will continue to aggressively take every action possible to safeguard the dignity and civil rights of our members."

The women say company representatives told them to stop calling the harassment hotline, and at least one woman said she was suspended for continuing to report abuse.

"I never got any help. In fact, I got retaliated against," Charmella Leviege, one of the women who filed the suit, said. Other plaintiffs are Christie Van, Maria Price and Helen Allen.

They allege they were subjected to jeers, lewd comments, sexual suggestions and catcalls by co-workers and supervisors. They also have filed employment discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Their suit, filed in federal court in Chicago, alleges other women at the plant on the Far South Side have been subjected to a hostile work environment that includes unwelcome and unwanted sexual advances by co-workers and supervisors, requests for sexual favors, men exposing their genitals and/or showing pictures of their genitals and pornographic images.

The plant employs about 500 women.

Allen, a maintenance worker, said the location of the plant's labor relations office, in sight of co-workers, makes it difficult to file complaints without being identified. Once she said she was called into the office after calling the harassment line. Then, a few minutes after she walked out, her supervisor was called in. As a result, workers immediately knew she had complained about her supervisor, she said.

"When you complain, you become the problem," Allen said.

Van said she was knocked to the ground from behind as she was leaving the plant last year and that her assailant stomped on her back and told her not to look at his face. The man, she said, called her a "snitch." Van complained to Ford about the incident, according to the lawsuit, but she said the company didn't investigate.

Van said she took a medical leave and that a year and a half passed before Ford moved her to its stamping plant in Chicago Heights. Van said her life has been turned upside down because she spoke out against abuses. If she can't talk to supervisors, Van said, "Where do I go for help?"

The 2000 settlement covered claims at Ford's two Chicago plants.

Essence Clark, a forklift driver at the assembly plant, filed suit against Ford in May over incidents she said took place from 2010 to 2012. She alleges she was called derogatory names and reported the incidents to her supervisor and the company's labor relations unit, but that "nothing was done." She said she was later terminated, according to court records.

"I believe (Ford) perceived me to have a mental disability and terminated me because of it," she wrote in the suit, which is pending.

Ford, which described the conduct that Clark complained about as "neither severe nor pervasive," said it exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct any alleged harassing behavior. "(Clark) unreasonably failed to avail herself of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided, or otherwise failed to avoid harm," the company said in court documents.